Convoys provide a lifeline

Mammoth hollow concrete blocks sit scattered all across Camp Anaconda, a supply hub and air base north of Baghdad.

They are pre-fabricated bunkers, and they are meant to save lives.

"That's why it's the first thing we tell people about when they get here," Sgt. 1st Class Israel Hill told a group of soldiers from the 7th Transportation Group as soon as they got done stretching their legs after a long, dangerous ride through Iraq.

Hill, who is based at Anaconda, is one of the group's liaison officers, one of the people who coordinate the movement of convoys and the supplies they carry. The soldiers he was greeting had just finished their first trip north.

"Basically, if you hear a loud siren go off, find yourself a bunker or a hard building and get inside," Hill said. "That means we are under mortar attack. Wait for the siren to sound again before you go back outside."

Two days earlier, Hill said, the base was attacked 17 times. An exploding mortar round can send shrapnel flying more than 50 feet.

A few days before that, a rocket-propelled grenade was launched toward the camp. A few weeks before that, a sniper killed an officer inside the perimeter. Earlier this year, a Virginia Beach-based reservist was killed when a blast hit close to the Post Exchange.

Anaconda is the final destination for many of the convoys that leave Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. The equipment and supplies they have hauled more than 600 miles is then pushed out to troops at the base and at camps in even more remote parts of the war zone.

When convoys leave Arifjan, the team tracks their whereabouts on a global positioning system communications link. On a small computer screen in the liaison office, tiny blips show where, and if, the trucks are moving.

Usually, if a convoy gets ambushed on the way to the camp, the liaison team knows about it.

When convoys arrive, the team greets them, assesses damage to the trucks, attempts to get replacement parts for vehicles that need repairs or maintenance, gets the drivers a tent to sleep in and makes sure their load moves along.

"These convoys have just come through one of the most dangerous areas and it's vital for us to make sure they have the equipment they need to get back," Hill said. "Then we turn convoys around."

One of the challenges, Hill said, is making sure that every truck is used to the maximum extent possible.

An empty truck is wasted, Hill said.

Tuesday afternoon, Hill and Clutter had a hard time convincing one convoy commander to take a few metal containers full of supplies back to Camp Doha, just outside of Kuwait City.

"Just let your convoy commander know y'all are hauling back these containers," Clutter said to one of the drivers.

Far too often for Hill's liking, trucks head back to Kuwait without cargo.

When the 7th Transportation Group soldiers who arrived at Anaconda with a convoy left Wednesday morning, more than half of the trucks were empty.

When the convoys get ready to head back south, Hill said, their job gets even more important. The team is also responsible for making sure convoys have the most current intelligence possible.

"That is one of the most important pieces of our job out here," Hill said. "We let them know when convoys were last hit and where."

Earlier this year, Hill said, one southbound convoy was hit three times - first with rocket-propelled grenades, then with small arms fire and finally with a roadside bomb.

It's hard to hear about things like that, Hill said, because the team tries to make the return trip as safe as possible.

They also tell convoy commanders the best time to hit the road. There are several hours during the day and night that Baghdad is considered too dangerous to drive through.

"We ... have to make sure they leave in the safest window possible," Hill said. "It's everybody's job to try and stay safe on the roads. We're just doing our part in that."